Does CPU Throttling affect performance?

[Thetech]

I've seen varying answers, so I'm asking here.
Does CPU Throttling affect the performance of a computer?
As I've heard throttling is dependent on the OS.
I have Windows XP but I'm also wondering how well it's
implemented in other OS's?

 

[Idontcare]

The only correct answer is YES.

Throttling means the CPU's ability to perform calculations is intentionally reduced as a brute-force means of reducing the CPU's thermal output.

You be bounded by physics here. No way around it. A throttled CPU is a lower performing CPU.

 

[aigomorla]

a cpu throttles when its about to overheat to save it from thermal shutdown.

so if you throttle, it means slowing it down so it can generate less heat and keep it under the envelope.

so the correct answer to your question as idc says is yes.

throttling is bad, very very bad, and if your throttling you should be looking for a sink upgrade.

 

[zerogear]

Does he mean actually throttling or speedstep?

 

[Thetech]

Originally posted by: zerogear
Does he mean actually throttling or speedstep?

I failed to understand the difference, could you please
elaborate kind sir?

What I had in mind was the speedstep technology in the Pentium M chips.
You know, how you can turn it off by changing the powersettings in the power
configuration manager in Windows.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: Thetech

Originally posted by: zerogear
Does he mean actually throttling or speedstep?

I failed to understand the difference, could you please
elaborate kind sir?

What I had in mind was the speedstep technology in the Pentium M chips.
You know, how you can turn it off by changing the powersettings in the power
configuration manager in Windows.

The whole point of SpeedStep is to "reduce performance" when your CPU is idle in order to reduce power requirements and heat production. However, you should not notice a performance decrease because it's designed to ramp up your CPU speed under load. Some people report being able to achieve higher overclocks without it, or experiencing some instability with it on. If you're not having problems, it shouldn't hurt.

 

[dguy6789]

A while back with Cool & Quiet enabled on my Athlon 64 machines, I had a problem with some games where the cpu would run slow during cut scenes and cause them to play rather choppy. Disabling Cool & Quiet fixed the problem. Since then, I have always disabled speed step and other such technologies.

 

[zerogear]

Originally posted by: Thetech

Originally posted by: zerogear
Does he mean actually throttling or speedstep?

I failed to understand the difference, could you please
elaborate kind sir?

What I had in mind was the speedstep technology in the Pentium M chips.
You know, how you can turn it off by changing the powersettings in the power
configuration manager in Windows.

Speedstep won't affect overall performance when you are using your computer, it is mainly on-demand in terms of when you do use it. While actual throttling involves your CPU overheating and the instructions in the CPU tell it to run at a certain MHz until the temperature cools off.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
A while back with Cool & Quiet enabled on my Athlon 64 machines, I had a problem with some games where the cpu would run slow during cut scenes and cause them to play rather choppy. Disabling Cool & Quiet fixed the problem. Since then, I have always disabled speed step and other such technologies.

I had this as well on an nForce AM2 board with a 4850x2. Much more stable without cool'n'quiet.